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The best places for humanity to colonize in space

Humans are born every second, and our planet can’t sustain humanity for much longer. Earth’s population limit is at about 10 billion people. After that, there will appear serious problems with the availability of fresh water and food. It is estimated that Earth’s population will reach 10 billion by 2050.

If Earth can’t support us much longer, what are the best places in space where humanity can evolve?

1. Our Moon

The moon is a perfect place for humans to colonize in the near future. We can build a permanent lunar station that would serve as a great middle-point for other missions. The moon also can be mined for valuable resources, like Helium-3, which would be worth approx. $10 billion per ton.

2. Mars

I think you saw this one coming. Mars’ surface conditions, temperature, and the presence of water make Mars the second most habitable planet in our Solar System, after Earth. We already send a lot of probes and satellites to Mars, and we know a lot about about the geography and atmosphere of the Red Planet. Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX promised a permanent Mars landing in 2025.

3. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moon.

Europa is the smallest of the four Jupiter’s Galileo Moons and the sixth closest to the planet. Europa has the smoothest surface of any planet of any known solid object in the Solar System. We sent the Galileo mission there in 1989, that still provides valuable information about Europa. It is estimated that Europa has an outer layer of water of about 100 km, part of which is frozen, and the other part is in liquid state. Humans can build igloos and drill into Europa’s ice crust and create air pockets. It is believed that life may exist in Europa’s underwater oceans.

4. The Trappist-1 System

Trappist-1 is a ultra cool dwarf star located at 40 light years away from us that is orbited by 7 planets, 3 of which are Earth-sized and are in the habitable zone of their star. The others could also be habitable as they posses liquid water on their surface. Here is a photo of the Trappist-1 system:

5. Gliese 667-Cc

Gliese 667-Cc is a exoplanet orbiting inside the habitable zone of the red dwarf Gliese 667-C, which is 23 light years away from Earth. Gliese 667-Cc has the mass of 3.7 Earth, and is slightly smaller than Uranus. The planet is probably tidally locked, which means that one face of the planet always faces the star that is orbiting and the other face is always in darkness. Gliese 667-Cc was discovered on November 21 2011.

6. A new planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

Getting back to our vicinity, we have a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us, at 4.2 light years away from Earth. The planet is rocky, and it orbits the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, which means that water can be found in it’s liquid form. There isn’t much known about this planet, but it may be the perfect place for humanity to colonize when our sun will burn out.